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Requirements for developers

Because BlackBerry
Messenger
connected applications are supported only on BlackBerry smartphones
running BlackBerry
Device Software 5.0 or later, it is recommended that you use the BlackBerry Messenger
SDK in conjunction with the BlackBerry Java SDK 5.0
or later. To download the
BlackBerry Java SDK or the associated development tools, visit developer.blackberry.com/java/download/.

All applications built upon the BBM
platform must be distributed to BlackBerry users through the BlackBerry World storefront,
although an application can be loaded directly on a BlackBerry device for testing purposes. Applications loaded directly onto the
device are considered by the BBM
platform as temporary, and are restricted to a maximum of 100 users. Once an application
is made available in BlackBerry World, there is
no limit on the number of users.

All applications that use the BBM platform are
subject to code of conduct restrictions to prevent misuse of the platform and to protect
user privacy. Research In Motion
reserves the right to remove applications that are potentially malicious, or misuse or
place an unnecessary burden on the platform. Applications are required to allow users to
notify the BBM
platform if the application performs any user-initiated action without the user's
consent.

System requirements for users

To install an application that uses the
BlackBerry Messenger
SDK, a
BlackBerry smartphone
user must have a wireless service data plan and the following software
installed on the
BlackBerry smartphone:

BlackBerry
Device Software 5.0 or later

BlackBerry
Messenger
6.0

BlackBerry World
storefront 1.0 or later

The BBM pre-production
environment

The BlackBerry Messenger pre-production environment is a dedicated cluster of BBM services
that provides all of the functionality of the BBM Social Platform. The pre-production environment is ideal for building
internal, alpha, and beta versions of your BBM connected app. It provides you with an opportunity to test your app's
features and functionality on activated BlackBerry smartphones with a
small beta community before you release it through the BlackBerry World storefront.

If your app, or app version, does not already exist in BlackBerry World, it is
automatically placed in the pre-production environment. The UUID that you provide acts as a
unique identifier for your app that facilitates monitoring for any adverse or unintended
events (such as burstiness) in the traffic that is associated with your app. Since the
pre-production environment is intended for testing, while restricting traffic from your app in
the production environment, the following limitations apply:

Each app is limited to 100 active instances.

An app expires after 180 days. Once
expired, your app no longer has access to the BBM platform services in
the pre-production environment.

An app in
pre-production can communicate (for example, share content or send join invitations) only
with other users who are running the same app or app version. This means that users who
are testing the app cannot communicate with users who are running any version of that app
if it has been submitted to or is available in BlackBerry World.

Communication limitations

To prevent an application from using too much of the available bandwidth, the
BlackBerry
Messenger platform limits the total volume of data that is transferred by a
BBM connected application as follows:

All messages and
application data transferred over channel and session connections for all BBM connected applications that are running on a BlackBerry
device are collectively limited to a maximum data transfer rate that is configured
by the BBM server. If the total volume of data attributed to an
application threatens to exceed the maximum transfer rate, the BBM platform throttles data traffic for that application to reduce the transfer rate
to an acceptable level. File transfers sent from a BBM connected application are not considered to be application data, and are
therefore exempt from this limitation on the data transfer rate.

Data sent from a BBM connected application over a channel/session connection is limited to a maximum
of 60 KB per transfer.

File transfers from a BBM connected application are limited to a maximum of 6 MB per file.